University/industry cooperation is vital to research

Cark Throssell

Field day season almost is upon us, and if you attend a university field day you undoubtedly will see several research projects that are university/industry collaborations. There is a long history in the turf world of university/industry cooperative research that benefits the turfgrass industry and the involved universities.

The benefits of collaborative research are many. For superintendents, the benefits include an opportunity to see the performance of new products versus existing products in side-by-side comparisons. A university scientist also can try various product rates, product mixtures and application timings in all combinations — combinations that would be impractical for superintendents to try on their own.

In addition, university research plots offer the perfect place to see what damage applying excessive rates of a product might cause, which of course are tests that superintendents would be reluctant to try on their own golf courses. In many cases, the ultimate benefit to superintendents of university/industry cooperative research is sound-use information for a product label and the backbone of recommendations found in university publications on disease, insect, weed and nematode control.

The benefits are many for university scientists as well. There is no better way for a university scientist to learn about product performance than conducting an experiment to understand what a product is and is not capable of doing. University/industry cooperative research offers scientists an opportunity to learn about new products, stay current on existing products and consider the gaps that no product currently is meeting. Results from these cooperative research projects help university scientists make product use recommendations to superintendents and also help keep university publications current on pest management.

University/industry cooperative research also provides a great educational experience for undergraduate and graduate students learning about turfgrass research. Working under the direction of a university scientist or a skilled technician, students gain hands-on experience in all aspects of conducting a field experiment, including treatment preparation, experimental design, field layout, treatment application, turfgrass maintenance and data collection, statistical analysis and writing reports.

University turf programs also benefit financially from conducting cooperative research with industry. Industry provides the funding for many cooperative projects at universities, from side-by-side product comparison research projects to a more in-depth study of rates, timings and potential product mixtures, to basic science on determining the mode of action of a specific product.

The financial connection between universities and the industry raises concerns from some people about whether university scientists can remain unbiased when receiving funding from industry. My experience conducting industry-sponsored research taught me that if a product doesn’t perform to the sponsor’s expectations, the sponsor is the first to want to know, so that the company can determine the cause of the poor performance. In this regard, companies are like the rest of us. If there is a problem, we want to know it first so we can address the problem before it gets worse. Companies are no different. In the 15 years that I conducted industry-sponsored research, I found that the sponsor wants to know the outcome of the experiment, whether the results are good, bad or indifferent.

Industry benefits from the university/industry cooperative research by having their products evaluated by unbiased university experts. By conducting industry-sponsored research, university scientists can identify strengths and weaknesses of products, suggest ways to improve product performance and identify opportunities for new uses of existing products or products under development. Industry also gains critical information to improve and expand product labels. In addition, funding university research is important, because in this manner industry supports universities and the turfgrass industry to advance the science that we all use to meet the expectations of golfers.

University/industry cooperative research is a critical part of the success that we all experience and enjoy in the turfgrass industry.